@acl, it's a testament to how much we've been waiting for these types of questions when 3 of the top users jump on it within seconds of each other.
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rcollyerJan 26 '12 at 16:38

This point about {t}\[Transpose] being necessary is important and subtle: Mathematica (to its credit) does NOT finesse the fact that vectors must be either 1 x n or n x 1 matrices, that is, explicitly either row or column vectors. Pretty much everything else (including my beloved Golub & VanLoan) does (tho G&VL have the grace at least to say they do). I find the conceptual hygiene forced by Mathematica to be refreshing and helpful.
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Reb.CabinJul 27 '14 at 17:32

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